Not personal; wasn't asked to write it: Jayant Sinha on article disputing father
New Delhi: Union minister Jayant Sinha on Thursday denied he wrote a newspaper article disputing his father and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha's contentions on the state of India's economy at anybody's bidding, insisting it was "absolutely out of my own conscience".
Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, said his difference of opinion with his father was "very serious discussion" and that it should not be seen "in a personal way". "It was absolutely my own conscience... I reject any such charge that I was asked to write the article. I wanted to write the article," Jayant Sinha told a television channel a day after his father criticised Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the economic "mess" in the country.
"It is a very serious discussion about the future of the economy and it should not be seen in a personal way," Jayant Sinha said, adding the economy is shifting gears, and that it has slowed down a little bit so it can accelerate further.
Jayant Sinha defended the government's economic policies on Thursday in what many saw as an attempt by the government to have Yashwant Sinha cornered by his own son.
"The discussion we are having through newspapers and television is a discussion I have been having with my father for many weeks and months... He asks difficult and tough questions as he should as somebody who knows the economy well," Jayant Sinha said.
Yashwant Sinha, who was finance minister in the first NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had earlier in the day said a response to his article should have come from the minister concerned or a spokesperson of the government.
Referring to his son's defence of the government, seen as a counter to his criticism of the centre's handling of the economy, Yashwant Sinha sought to know why his son was shifted from the finance ministry "if he was so competent" to address the concerns raised by him.
Yashwant Sinha said both he and his son were doing their "dharma".
